Attractiveness isn't just a matter of good looks, but also having the right voice and scent, according to a new study.

Researchers found people can work out an unexpected range of characteristics from how someone smells, including how big they are and whether they're emotional.

The study also suggests listening to the way someone talks has an evolutionary advantage as it helps us chose the right mate, proving the way you talk is just as important as what you say.

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Researchers found people can work out an unexpected range of characteristics from how someone smells, including how big they are and whether they're emotional (stock image)

THE RESULTS

The study, which involved looking through 30 years of literature, revealed your voice reveals more than your gender and age.

Listeners have proven to be skilled at detecting an unexpected range of characteristics including the dominance, cooperativeness, emotional state, and even the body size of the speaker.

Even more surprisingly, other studies have shown that people can correctly deduce very similar types of information based on scent alone.

These signals send unique messages about the individual's condition and whether they might be a good mate.

'Perceiving others through all three channels gives a more reliable and broader variety of information about them,' said Agata Groyecka, lead author of the review and a researcher at the University of Wroclaw in Poland.

The study, which involved looking through 30 years of literature, revealed your voice reveals more than your gender and age.

Listeners have also proven to be skilled at detecting an unexpected range of characteristics including the dominance, cooperativeness, emotional state, and even the body size of the speaker.

Even more surprisingly, other studies have shown that people can correctly deduce very similar types of information based on scent alone.

These signals send unique messages about the individual's condition and whether they might be a good mate.

Researchers believe there is an evolutionary advantage to multisensory aspects of attraction as it means positive traits can be detected both from a distance (voice and looks), as well as up close (scent).

'Acoustic and olfactory cues can, separately or in combination, strongly influence the perceived attractiveness of an individual and therefore attitudes and actions and actions towards that person', researchers said.

'Literature about other senses and their role in social relations has grown rapidly and should not be neglected.'

Researchers discuss the 'highly complex and multimodal nature of person perception' in their paper, published in Frontiers.